All posts by smarkey

We are back! Read about how we have improved our robot for even greater success as we go to our next competition at Quinsigamond this Saturday:

Our first design (shown above) consisted of a pitchfork and backboard, which allowed us to scoop up to two stars and dump them over the fence. While this design was great for winning at the qualifiers, it felt sluggish and it couldn’t toss cubes over the fence reliably.

We went through a design process and came up with Yana’s Revenge, a grabber style arm that can easily grab cubes and up to six stars. Yana’s Revenge became our main design because it was much more capable at completing the tasks. It can also clap, so that’s nice.

This became our design of choice because it has a fixed bar in the middle that works with both motorized side arms. Using our controller, we can make the robot pick up as many as four stars reliably and also clap. We can also control each side arm independently, giving us improved control. Below are pictures of the new design.

The robot carrying an example of a full loadThe robot after dropping the full load over the center fence.

For the next week we will be preparing for our competition at Boston University Academy. With a wonderful supply of light aluminum parts, and some minor changes to our wheel base, it will allow us to solve some major problems with our robot. We are also happy that two JV robotic members will be accompanying us.

The Starstruck challenge is a complex challenge that we are participating in for this robotics season. See what the game is all about (Click Me) This is made by Vex robotics, the platform for our league.

Our strategy with in the Starstruck challenge is base around throwing stars over as fast as possible, by use of a pitchfork arm. You can see a wonderful recording from our last competition (Click Me). The rounds begin with an Autonomous round where the robots follow pre-programmed commands. Don’t worry if they stop for five or so seconds, because after this, the driver controlled round begins.

After three months of productive work, the Williston Wildcat Robotics team had its first VEX competition of 2016-2017 season in Middletown Connecticut! Of the of 10 matches played, the team had 4 victories and 1 tie. We made it to quarter-finals! A good start, but we have more modifications on the way!